Ils ne Passeront Passe (SS) (Lunar State)
Part 1: The Invasion of the Republic of China It was summer. The spring had faded and heat replaced what had once been a gentle touch of heat and cold. Winter’s grip had totally faded and Summer’s reign had just begun. But all was not as it seemed. Though the larks were singing, they could scarcely be heard among the guns below. For this was not just a season of summer, but it was season unending, it was war. But I did not start here, on the Mississippi, as so many did, but I started at the beginning of the great conflict. I had joined the US Army at the age of 18 right out of high school, only two years before WWIII broke loose. The Chinese had been eyeing Taiwan for over 75 years and now they believed they were ready. I was stationed in Taiwan right out of boot camp as the US began building its forces there in a show of force against the Chinese. Unfortunately we did not have that much force to show. The economy had collapsed, the new Great Depression had gripped the world, but it hit America especially hard and the lack of any major military presence besides localized clusters were a prime example of this. The Chinese hit us hard. They attacked without warning; we were caught with our pants down. The Chinese Navy hit the US Pacific Fleet with the fury of a devil and within hours the vast majority of the fleet was devastated. Alarms blared throughout the base that we were going to war. Everyone shot up from their barracks and dressed as quick as they could. Some men went outside of the barracks in their t-shirts, boxers and rifle. It was a Friday after all. The Chinese paratroopers hit the ground before the rest of the main force hit the beaches and they were our first taste of the enemy. They were adorned with black armour and they looked like God had sent the Angel of Death against us. Their helmets were adorned with Chinese markings that I later learned meant “Swift Death”. They gripped in their hand the latest in the AK model of weapons, the AK122; they had adopted these weapons from their towel head friends in the Middle East in a political move to help their relations with the fanatics. But I bet they could’ve held a sword and been just as deadly. The first few landed close to the base and they were quickly killed by our bullets, but ones that landed farther away were able to get out of their chute and escape before we could hit them. The PLAAF did not take lightly to our killing of their comrades and within a matter of seconds our base was devastated by missile strike from a Chengdu J-50 high in the atmosphere. The blast threw me to the ground and made my head feel like it was in a bell. Even with my helmet I could feel blood coming down my face from the impact. I shakily got up and looked back at my base. Bodies were strewn like ragdolls. Several men got up from the hit and I could hear the moaning of dozens around the base with their limbs in unnatural positions. I staggered towards the only man who looked like he knew what he was doing, Warrant Officer Smith. He stood there with a grim look on his face as he lit a cigarette and put it to his lips. He simply looked at me and grinned, and to this day I can’t imagine why. He said to me “Son, you look like you just got vomited up from a fish” In reply I said “Well that’s about what happened” His smile grew a little, but his eyes told of the gears turning in his head. Several more began to gather around him; altogether we had a full contingent of about a hundred men left, from a base of over a thousand before the strike. The Warrant Officer quickly began jabbing out orders to the men: check the armory, try to make contact, check the wounded, etc. I was assigned to act as a look out for the rest of them, along with Pvt Edward Williams, Pvt Jose Colon, PFC Telemachus van Dyke, and SPC John Roman, along with twenty more Privates and ten more PFC’s. As a Corporal I was the highest ranking among them and I quickly organized us into seven teams: Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, and Gulf. Alpha and Bravo covered the front of the base, Charlie and Delta the East, Echo and Gulf the West, and I personally took Foxtrot to the rear of the base. Foxtrot Unit and I set up a small defensive position in the rear of the base. We set up a few sandbags in what was left of the base. We set up a SAW in a fixed position and the other men took up positions next to him and readied our weapons for any Chink that attempted to come up on the base. I personally had an M4 Carbine and a Colt Police Positive Special. My handgun was unique in the unit as after the Army took massive budget cuts we were told that the Army would still supply rifles, but handguns we were going to have to be either bought by us or taken from our homes. I personally took this handgun from my home, it was my great grandfather’s and handed down from father to son. It served me well. The Chinks quickly attacked our base, maybe 10 minutes had gone by from the time that we set up our position. The black armoured troops were formed in a loose fighting unit. They fired upon our group and killed PFC William Johnson and PVT Carlos Roman. The SAW quickly opened its fiery maw upon the troops and four immediately fell to their death. The Chinks then threw a grenade out our position and my best friend, SPC Franz von Bismarck grabbed the device and tried to throw it back, but instead it took the upper half of his body. We all opened up on them immediately, not even aiming, just firing in their general direction. Four more of the Chinks felt our bullets and hit the deck. But they fired back. Seven more of my men fell to their rounds along with the PVT operating the SAW. We knew our situation was untenable I called for our unit to fall back. We abandoned the SAW and our dead. Category:Scenario: Lunar State Category:Short Stories (Lunar State)